About to leave for Changi airport after another weekend in which the championship race took a dramatic twist (incidentally, it is absolutely chucking it down outside my hotel window as I type. How different might it have been had they raced on a slippery, wet track?). Anyway, the burning question as we left our air-conditioned media centre and stepped into Singapore's muggy heat at about 3am last night was whether Lewis Hamilton's title hopes are now shot.

I must confess, when Anthony Davidson's 5Live assessment following Hamilton's accident was relayed to me, it seemed a little premature. "Unbelievable stuff, this must now be Lewis' championship chances well and truly over," Davidson said breathlessly as Hamilton threw away his steering wheel and stepped angrily from his McLaren into the glare of a thousand lightbulbs.

Over? The stats are not hopeless. Hamilton is still just 20 points behind Webber. And the 2008 world champion is only nine points behind second-placed Alonso. Ergo, if Webber fails to finish a race, Hamilton is right back in the picture. Hamilton's body language told a different story, however. An hour after the incident, after I had sat down with him back in the McLaren motor home and saw first hand how stunned he was, I'm not sure that Davidson wasn't rather prescient.

Following his crash in Monza, Hamilton stewed for an hour or so in his paddock home before emerging to tell the world that it was "mistakes like that which cost championships". His mood was defiant, angry, motivated. And hopeful.

The Hamilton I saw last night was bewildered. Lost. He murmured that he did not know how he felt just yet. It wasn't just the crash and the 15 points he would have picked up with third place. It was the knowledge that his McLaren was so far off the pace of the Red Bulls and the Ferraris. The only reason he had even been able to challenge Webber was because the Australian had gambled following the early safety car and his tyres were 30 laps older than Hamilton's. And there were suggestions Webber's car might have been having issues. As for Vettel and Alonso, they were streets ahead of Hamilton. Literally.

The hope seemed to have disappeared. Whether it has returned again since then remains to be seen. McLaren arrived in Singapore optimistic that they had bridged the gap to Red Bull and Ferrari at these types of high-downforce circuits. It was seen as a crucial weekend for indicating the final destination of the championship. Well, it looks now as if Hamilton and Button (who was hardly upbeat himself despite picking up 12 valuable points) will have to fight a rearguard action and hope to get lucky in the remaining four races.

If there are four races that is. With Korea in doubt the British pair may have only three races left to bridge the gap. And on top of that the circuits in question are expected to favour the characteristics of Red Bull and Ferrari far more than McLaren.

Again, it is worth repeating the fact that Hamilton is still only 20 points behind the leader. That is 8 points or so in old money. Eminently recoverable. And if there is one driver you would back to outperform his car and stay in contention it is Hamilton. But can he really expect Webber, Alonso and Vettel to waste the mechanical advantage they now enjoy? For surely they would all have to slip upnow? It is looking grim for Hamilton.